Awards

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Ian McEwan, Booker Prize-winning author of Amsterdam, has created a symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness that provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative combined with the provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose.

On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment's flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia's childhood friend. But Briony's incomplete grasp of adult motives — together with her precocious literary gifts — forces a situation that will change the course of their lives. As it follows that event's repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.

Review:

"Atonement emerges as the author's most deeply felt novel yet....It is a novel that attests not only to Mr. McEwan's mastery of craft and virtuosic control of narrative suspense, but also to his knowledge of the human heart and its rage for symmetry and order." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Review:

Review:

"[W]e are free to linger in the moment, to savor the exquisite, agonizing aptness of McEwan's images and the delicacy of his touch as he records, in fiction, the true horrors of war, and makes new the ordinary realizations those horrors force upon us." Claire Messud, The Atlantic Monthly

Review:

"The dust jacket proclaims Atonement [McEwan's] finest achievement, and although publishers are prone to this...view of their authors' talents, in this case they are triumphantly right." Robert MacFarlane, The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Review:

"McEwan's latest, both powerful and equisite, considers the making of a writer, the dangers and rewards of imagination, and the juncture between innocence and awareness, all set against the late afternoon of an England soon to disappear." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Readers are spared little, yet the journey is worth the observed pain and distress. Well-read teens will find much to think about in this novel." School Library Journal

Synopsis:

McEwan, Booker Prize-winning author of Amsterdam, has created a symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness that provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative combined with the provocation readers have come to expect from this master of English prose.

About the Author

Ian McEwan is the bestselling author of more than ten books, including Atonement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the W. H. Smith Literary Award, and Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize. He lives in London.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 7 comments:

writermala, September 16, 2011 (view all comments by writermala)
Beginning authors are advised to "describe! describe! describe!" Obviously McEwan is no beginning author. His descriptions are just wonderful. One gets such a vivid picture of what he is describing even though the era and locale are foreign to one.

McEwan uses the clever ploy of saying things through Briony as she is growing up, such as, "Wasn't writing a kind of socializing, an achievable form of flight, of fancy of the imagination?"

The book is so well written that one would read and enjoy it even if there was no story to speak of! However, there is a plot weaved into the book that one wants to know the ending for. What really happened? Does Briory get atonement? Well, you'll have to read the book and the atonement is in the hands of the novelist isn't it?

mariz, September 1, 2011 (view all comments by mariz)
Fabulous read! It reminded me of Bonjour Tristesse, where another young girl actually caused the death of her father's girlfriend. There are acts you can never go back to change.

Julia Callahan, February 16, 2008 (view all comments by Julia Callahan)
Literally the best book I've read in years. The film prompted me to read this book (much to my embarrassment), and I was just overwhelmed by how great the book really is. McEwan weaves an amazing tale of lust, love, actions, consequences, war, peace, and the true place of the author. The commentary on the nature of fiction is played out in a profoundly moving and utterly disturbing way. Atonement is simply unmissable.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(20 of 28 readers found this comment helpful)

"Review"
by Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times,
"Atonement emerges as the author's most deeply felt novel yet....It is a novel that attests not only to Mr. McEwan's mastery of craft and virtuosic control of narrative suspense, but also to his knowledge of the human heart and its rage for symmetry and order."

"Review"
by Claire Messud, The Atlantic Monthly,
"[W]e are free to linger in the moment, to savor the exquisite, agonizing aptness of McEwan's images and the delicacy of his touch as he records, in fiction, the true horrors of war, and makes new the ordinary realizations those horrors force upon us."

"Review"
by Robert MacFarlane, The Times Literary Supplement (London),
"The dust jacket proclaims Atonement [McEwan's] finest achievement, and although publishers are prone to this...view of their authors' talents, in this case they are triumphantly right."

"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews,
"McEwan's latest, both powerful and equisite, considers the making of a writer, the dangers and rewards of imagination, and the juncture between innocence and awareness, all set against the late afternoon of an England soon to disappear."

"Review"
by School Library Journal,
"Readers are spared little, yet the journey is worth the observed pain and distress. Well-read teens will find much to think about in this novel."

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
McEwan, Booker Prize-winning author of Amsterdam, has created a symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness that provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative combined with the provocation readers have come to expect from this master of English prose.

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